Personal dial tone

ABSTRACT

A telephone network provides personalized communication services based on a voice identification of the subscriber. When a person requests a service, the network executes a speaker identification/verification procedure to identify the person as a subscriber. A switching office utilizes profile data associated with the identified subscriber to control services over a predetermined communication link. For example, on an outgoing call over a telephone line, the speaker identification/verification process provides a virtual office equipment number corresponding the identified subscriber. The central office switch servicing the outgoing call receives the virtual office equipment number and uses that number to retrieve a service profile associated with the subscriber. The switch provides a personalized form of &#34;dial tone&#34; like service to the subscriber by processing the outgoing call using the profile. The personalized services to several subscribers sharing a common line. The network may monitor ongoing speech during a call, to ensure use of the service only by the identified subscriber, for example in a prison application. The network also can provide the personalized services in response to dial-up access and activation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to personalized telecommunicationsservices, preferably offered through an intelligent telephone network.

ARCONYMS

The written description uses a large number of acronyms to refer tovarious services, messages and system components. Although generallyknown, use of several of these acronyms is not strictly standardized inthe art. For purposes of this discussion, acronyms therefore will bedefined as follows:

Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)

Automatic Number Identification (ANI)

Call Processing Record (CPR)

Central Office (CO)

Common Channel Interoffice Signalling (CCIS)

Data and Reporting System (DRS)

Generic Data Interface (GDI)

Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP)

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

ISDN User Part (ISDN-UP)

Intelligent Peripheral (IP)

Multi-Services Application Platform (MSAP)

Office Equipment (OE)

Personal Communications Service (PCS)

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)

Point in Call (PIC)

Personal Identification Number (PIN)

Primary Rate Interface (PRI)

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

Service Control Point (SCP)

Service Creation Environment (SCE)

Service Management System (SMS)

Service Switching Point (SSP)

Signaling System 7 (SS7)

Signaling Point (SP)

Signaling Transfer Point (STP)

Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI)

Speaker Identification/Verification (SIV)

Terminating Attempt Trigger (TAT)

Time Slot Interchange (TSI)

Traffic Service Position System (TSPS)

Transaction Capabilities Applications Part (TCAP)

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

BACKGROUND ART

Telephone service has become virtually ubiquitous throughout the modernworld. A person can simply take a telephone off-hook, dial a destinationtelephone number, and if someone answers the called telephone, thecaller can converse with another party anywhere in the world.

Today, however, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and othertelephone networks such as cellular systems provide most telephoneservices based on number identification of the telephone set or linethat each party uses. Services are personalized only to the extent thata party uses the same line and/or instrument. For example, a persontypically has one set of service features and billing options availablevia a telephone on the person's desk at the office, another set ofservice features and billing options available via the telephone line totheir home and perhaps a third set of service features and billingoptions available via a wireless telephone (e.g. cellular or personalcommunications service (PCS)). The networks process calls to and fromeach of these different subscriber telephones based on a separatetelephone number.

The proliferation of services causes subscribers inconvenience. Forexample, circumstances arise in which a subscriber may want a feature orbilling option normally associated with one line or instrument, such asthe office telephone, when they are in fact using a different line orinstrument such as their home or PCS telephone. Also, the extremeincrease in demand for telephone services is rapidly exhausting thecapacity of the network, particularly in terms of the telephone numbersavailable under the current numbering plan.

A number of specific solutions have been proposed for individualproblems, such as work at home and/or transfer of service to newlocation(s) as an individual travels. However, each of these solutionsis limited or creates its own new problems.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,035 to Jordan et al. discloses a methodof using an intelligent network to provide a `follow-me` type servicethrough multiple exchanges of the switched telephone network using anAIN type of telephone system architecture. Each subscriber to thelocator service has a unique person locator telephone number. To accessthe system to update data in a service control database, the subscriberdials 0700 and his unique person locator telephone number. The telephoneswitching office routes the call to a traffic service position system(TSPS) which prompts the caller (e.g. provides an additional dial tone)and receives further digits from the subscriber. The subscriber inputs athree digit access code, indicating the type of update call, and a fourdigit personal identification number. If calling from the remote stationto which the subscriber wishes his calls routed, the local switchingoffice forwards the line identification number of that station to theTSPS. The TSPS forwards the dialed information and the lineidentification to the data base for updating the particular subscriber'slocation record. A caller wishing to reach the subscriber dials thesubscriber's unique person locator number. A telephone switching officesends the dialed number to the central database. The database retrievesthe stored completion number for the called subscriber and forwards thatnumber back to the switching office to complete the call.

The Jordan et al. approach allows calls to follow the subscriber to eachnew location, but the subscriber must have a unique telephone number forthis service. Each station that receives a call also must have a uniquetelephone number. As such, the Jordan et al. approach actuallyexacerbates the shortage of telephone numbers. Also, Jordan et al. relyon subscriber input of identification numbers. Subscribers often findthis inconvenient, and this technique is often prone to number entryerrors.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,373 to Lee et al. discloses a system for providingspecial telephone services to a customer on a personal basis, when thecustomer is away from his or her home base or office. The personalizedservices are provided in a multiple exchange office environment, using acentral database for feature control. The nationally accessible centraldatabase system stores feature data in association with personalidentification numbers. A subscriber wishing to use his personalizedfeatures while away from home base dials a special code and presents thepersonal identification number. The exchange transmits a query to thecentral database, and the corresponding feature data is retrieved fromthe database. The database forwards the feature data to the exchange,and the exchange stores the received feature data in association withthe station from which the request was initiated. Subsequently, theexchange accesses the downloaded feature data to provide telephoneservice corresponding to the subscriber's personalized telephonefeatures via the station the subscriber is currently operating from. Atemporary office arrangement may be established in which thepersonalized features will be immediately available on incoming andoutgoing calls for a period of time specified by the subscriber.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,899 to Gupta et al. pertains to a system wherein asubscriber can assign desired characteristics to any "target station"which is an active telephone accessible to a telecommunications network.A call thereafter that originates from the target station can usecustomized features, such as account code dialing and corporate billingarrangements. Initially, a service profile is created and stored foreach subscriber and contains information describing desired features andbilling options. The characteristics of a particular target station arechanged by an activation process that can be initiated from anylocation. Automatic number identification (ANI) information associatedwith the target station is entered into an ANI trigger table in anintelligent switch, and the service profile is loaded into a database.When a call originates from the target station, information in thedatabase is applied to the switch to provide the desiredcharacteristics. An example of one of the features is when an employeeof company X wishes to make business related calls from his/hertelephone, the call has the characteristics of a call made from theoffice by a special billing arrangement.

Like Jordan, the Lee et al. and Gupta et al. systems depend on a dialednumber entry by the subscriber to activate the service. Also, the Lee etal. and Gupta et al. systems do not provide a simple manner for morethan one subscriber to obtain personalized service over the sametelephone line. In Lee et al., during the period when the switch storesthe roaming subscriber's profile in association with the line, all callsare processed based on that one profile. Similarly, in Gupta et al.,while the ANI trigger is set against the line, all outgoing calls causedatabase access and use of the subscriber's profile in the database.There is no way to fall back on the normal profile for that line unlessand until the service for the roaming subscriber is cancelled withrespect to that one line.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,571 to Kay et al. discloses an Area Wide Centrexservice provided by an advanced intelligent telephone network. Theservice provides centrex features, such as extension dialing, tomultiple locations. The Kay et al. Patent also suggests a Work-at-Homefeature. This feature allows the home telephone line to selectivelyoperate as a residential line or as a Centrex business line, on acall-by-call basis. For a business call, the user would preface the callwith an access indicator to identify a business call. When an outgoingcall from the home line lacks the access indicator, the networkprocesses the call as a standard residential call.

The Work-at-Home feature in the Kay et al. system requires only dialingof a code before each outgoing business call. However, the Kay et al.approach requires that the business profile is stored in associationwith the home line before the subscriber makes the call. The subscribercan use the Centrex billing and service features from the businessaccount only from a home telephone previously associated with thebusiness line. The subscriber can not use the billing and servicefeatures from the business account from any randomly selected telephone.Also, from the home line, a person can either use the normal residentialprofile service or the pre-defined business profile service. There isinsufficient flexibility to enable a wider range of services formultiple subscribers through the one line.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above noted problems and providesadvances over the existing technology by personalizing telecommunicationservices based on a speech authenticated identification of the actualsubscriber. Offices of a communication network utilize profile dataassociated with the identified subscriber, rather than profile dataassociated with a particular telephone number or a particularcommunication link. In many of the preferred service applications, thenetwork uses a virtual office equipment number assigned to thesubscriber's profile data to retrieve the data for providing a requestedservice, reducing or eliminating the need for assignment of additionaltelephone numbers.

In one aspect, the invention relates to a communication network. Thenetwork includes at least one central office for processing callsoriginated over a plurality of communication links. The central officeincludes mass storage containing subscriber profiles. A peripheralcoupled to the central office provides a voice authenticationcapability. In operation, the peripheral analyzes speech of a caller toidentify the caller as a subscriber. Based on the identification, theperipheral provides an office equipment number assigned to theidentified subscriber to the central office. The central officeretrieves profile information corresponding to the office equipmentnumber and processes at least one call using the retrieved profileinformation.

The preferred implementation of the communication network is anintelligent implementation of a public switched telephone network. Thepreferred network includes a number of central office switchesinterconnected by trunk circuits and servicing a substantial number oftelephone links. The intelligent network also includes a service controlpoint storing a database of records used in controlling servicesprovided through the central offices. A first signaling network carriessignaling messages between the offices as well as signaling messagesbetween the offices and the service control point. The peripheral alsomay exchange signaling information with the service control point,preferably over a second signaling network.

Another aspect of the invention relates to an improved central officeswitching system capable of processing a call using profile informationselected in response to a virtual equipment number. An office equipmentnumber is `virtual` where it is assigned to an individual subscriber,instead of to specific network equipment such as a line termination or aspecific station.

The switching system includes interface modules coupled to thecommunication links and a switch providing selective communicationconnections between the interface modules. An administrative modulecontrols connections provided by the switch. The administrative moduleincludes mass storage containing subscriber profiles, a processor forproviding control instructions to the switch, and a signaling interfacefor signaling communication with at least one external network node. Inresponse to a virtual office equipment number received via the signalinginterface, e.g. from a separate peripheral platform as discussed above,the processor retrieves a subscriber profile corresponding to thevirtual office equipment number from the mass storage. The processoruses the retrieved profile to process a selective connection through theswitch between two of the interface modules.

The inventive switching system and network can offer a variety ofcommunication services on a personalized basis, and the inventionencompasses a wide range of call processing methods which utilize speechidentification of subscribers to select the appropriate profile dataand/or use of profiles selected in response to virtual office equipmentnumbers.

For example, in another aspect, the present invention relates to a callprocessing method. The method includes the steps of detecting a servicerequest and receiving and processing speech signals to identify a personas one of a plurality of subscribers. A switching office is instructedto utilize profile data corresponding to the identified subscriber forprocessing of a communication service over a predetermined link. In thepreferred embodiment, the instruction to the switching office providesan office equipment number associated with the subscriber.

The service request may relate to a single outgoing call from a lineshared by a number of subscribers. Alternatively, a subscriber may callin from any line and request or activate the service with respect tothat line for one call or for some period of time. There are also somesituations where the network would monitor speech on a line, duringusage, to detect if the identified subscriber is still the party usingthe line.

The personalized service also applies to incoming calls directed to asubscriber. For example, when a subscriber activates a personal dialtone service over a line for some period of time, the network alsoroutes calls for that subscriber to that line during that same period.

Another aspect of the invention relates to personalized incoming callprocessing, for example where one line and one telephone number areshared by a number of subscribers. The network detects a call to atelephone number associated with a communication link servicing thesubscribers. A node of the network, such as the above discussedperipheral, interacts with the caller to identify one of the subscribersintended as the recipient of the call. Profile data corresponding to theidentified subscriber is retrieved, preferably using an office equipmentnumber assigned to the subscriber, and the network processes the call inaccord with the retrieved profile data.

The profile data can provide a number of subscriber selected features onthe incoming call. For example, the profile data may cause an end officeswitch to ring the shared station using a distinctive ringing signalassigned to the identified subscriber. Persons hearing the distinctiveringing signal know that the call is one for the particular subscriberinstead of one of the other persons sharing the communication link. Asanother example, if the call is not answered or the line is busy, thenthe network can route the call to the identified subscriber's own voicemailbox.

Advantages of the personal dial tone service should be readily apparentto those skilled in the telecommunications art. For example, in theshared line application, several subscribers can share a single line orcommunication link as well as a single telephone number. Outgoing callfeatures, however, are personalized to each subscriber. For example, thenetwork can provide each subscriber a different level of service, andeach subscriber can receive a separate bill. The service uses speechbased identification, eliminating the burden on the subscriber to dialin long strings of identifying digits. As shown by the above discussionof the incoming service, the network only utilizes one number for thesubscribers' services, yet the network still provides each subscriberindividual incoming call treatment.

Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbe set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of thefollowing or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectsand advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means ofthe instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of an intelligent telephone networkthat may be used to offer the personal dial tone service of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the significantfunctional components of a central office switching system used in thenetwork of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the significantfunctional components of an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) used in thenetwork of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a combination signal flow and process flow diagram useful inunderstanding a specific example of call processing for providing thepersonal dial tone service over a shared use line.

FIG. 5 is a combination signal flow and process flow diagram useful inunderstanding a specific example of call processing for providing thepersonal dial tone service on a dial-up, per call basis.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In response to each of several types of service requests, the personaldial tone service of the present invention initially identifies theindividual subscriber, preferably using a speakeridentification/verification procedure. The system then retrieves profileinformation corresponding to the identified subscriber. Thecommunication network processes one or more calls to or from anidentified communication link using the individual subscriber's profiledata. On an outgoing telephone call from the subscriber, for example,the service request may be an off-hook signal, and the network mayprovide `dial-tone` type telephone services based on the retrievedprofile information. In this example, the network may provide a dialtone signal or a customized prompt and then permit the caller toout-dial a call. Calling features and/or billing functions apply basedon the profile information, e.g. to bill the call to this onesubscriber's personal account. The network may also provide personalizedservices on incoming calls to the subscriber.

The personal dial tone service may utilize a variety of differentnetworks. For example, the service may be adaptable to Internet basedvoice communications. The preferred embodiments utilize variousimplementations of modern telephone networks. To understand theinvention, it may be helpful first to consider the architecture andoperation of an advanced intelligent network (AIN) type implementationof a public switched telephone network.

FIG. 1 provides a simplified illustration of the preferred intelligenttelephone network for implementing the personal dial tone service inaccord with the present invention. As shown, the telephone networkincludes a switched traffic network and a common channel signalingnetwork carrying the control signaling messages for the switchedtelephone traffic network. In this implementation, the system furtherincludes a secondary signaling network.

The telephone or traffic network (operated by a combination of localcarriers and interexchange carriers) includes a number of end office andtandem office type central office switching systems 11. FIG. 1 shows anumber of subscriber stations, depicted as telephones 1, connected to aseries of central office switches 11₁ to 11_(N). In the preferredimplementation, the connections to the central office switches 11utilize telephone lines, and the switches are telephone type switchesfor providing landline communication. However, it should be recognizedthat other communication links and other types of switches could beused. Trunk circuits (not shown) carry communication traffic between thecentral office switches 11.

Each end office type central office switch, such as 11 and 11_(N),provides switched telephone connections to and from local communicationlines or other subscriber links coupled to end users stations ortelephone sets 1. For example, the central office 11 serves as an endoffice to provide switched telephone connections to and from localcommunication lines coupled to end users telephone station sets, such astelephone 1_(A), whereas the central office 11_(N) serves as an endoffice to provide switched telephone connections to and from localcommunication lines coupled to end users telephone station sets, such astelephone 1_(B).

The typical telephone network also includes one or more tandem switchingoffices such as office 11_(T) providing trunk connections between endoffices. As such, the traffic network consists of local communicationlinks and a series of switching offices interconnected by voice gradetrunks, only two examples of which are shown at TR in FIG. 1. One set oftrunks TR might interconnect the first end office 11 to the tandemoffice 11_(T), whereas another set of trunks TR might interconnect thetandem office 11_(T) to another end office 11_(N) Other trunks mightdirectly connect end offices. Although not shown, many offices serve asboth end offices and tandem offices for providing different callconnections.

FIG. 1 shows connections to the stations 1 via lines, and typicallythese links are telephone lines (e.g. POTS or ISDN). It will be apparentto those skilled in the art, however, that these links may be othertypes of communication links, such as wireless links. Also, althoughshown as telephones in FIG. 1, the terminal devices or stations 1 cancomprise any communication device compatible with the localcommunication link. Where the link is a standard voice grade telephoneline, for example, the terminals could include facsimile devices, modemsetc. The processing in accord with the invention, however, relies onidentification of the subscriber, preferably by voice based recognition.For this purpose, the terminals preferably include two-way voicecommunication elements.

The lines and trunks through the central offices 11 carry thecommunication traffic of the telephone network. The preferred telephonenetwork, however, also includes a common channel interoffice signaling(CCIS) network carrying a variety of signaling messages, principallyrelating to control of processing of calls through the traffic portionof the network. The CCIS network includes packet data links (shown asdotted lines) connected to appropriately equipped central officeswitching systems such as offices 11 and a plurality of packet switches,termed Signaling Transfer Points (STPs) 15. To provide redundancy andthus a high degree of reliability, the STPs 15 typically are implementedas mated pairs of STPs. The CCIS network of the telephone systemoperates in accord with an accepted signaling protocol standard,preferably Signaling System 7 (SS7).

In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, each central office 11 hasat least minimal SS7 signaling capability, which is conventionallyreferred to as a signaling point (SP) in reference to the SS7 network.As such, the offices can exchanges messages relating to call set-up andtear-down, typically in ISDN-UP format. At least some, and preferablyall, of the central office switches 11 are programmed to recognizeidentified events or points in call (PICs) as advanced intelligentnetwork (AIN) type service triggers. In response to a PIC or trigger, acentral office 11 initiates a query through the CCIS signaling networkto a Service Control Point (SCP) 19 for instructions relating to AINtype services. Central office switching systems having full AIN triggerand query capability are referred to as Service Switching Points (SSPs).

The central office switches 11 typically consist of programmable digitalswitches with CCIS communications capabilities. One example of such aswitch is a 5ESS type switch manufactured by AT&T; but other vendors,such as Northern Telecom and Seimens, manufacture comparable digitalswitches which could serve as the SSPs and SPs. The SSP typeimplementation of such switches differs from the SP type implementationof such switches in that the SSP switch includes additional software torecognize the full set of AIN triggers and launch appropriate queries. Aspecific example of an SSP capable switch is discussed in detail later,with regard to FIG. 2.

One key feature of the present invention is that the program controlledswitch accepts instructions to load profiles and/or receives profilesover a signaling link. In most cases, these profiles are identified byvirtual office equipment numbers.

The above described data signalling network between the SSP type centraloffices 11 and the SCP 19 is preferred, but other signalling networkscould be used. For example, instead of the packet switched type linksthrough one or more STP's, a number of central office switches, an SCPand any other signaling nodes could be linked for data communication bya token ring network. Also, the SSP capability may not always beavailable at the local office level, and several other implementationsmight be used to provide the requisite SSP capability. For example, noneof the end office switches may have SSP functionality. Instead, each endoffice would connect through a trunk to a tandem office which has theSSP capability. The SSP tandem then communicates with the SCP via an SS7type CCIS link, as in the implementation described above. The SSPcapable tandem switches are digital switches, such as the 5ESS switchfrom AT&T; and the non-SSP type end offices might be 1A analog typeswitches.

The SCP 19 may be general purpose computer storing a database of callprocessing information. In the preferred implementation, the SCP 19actually is an Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP) developed by BellAtlantic and Bell Communications Research. The ISCP is an integratedsystem. Among other system components, the ISCP includes a ServiceManagement System (SMS), a Data and Reporting System (DRS) and theactual database also referred to as a Service Control Point (SCP). Inthis implementation, the SCP maintains a Multi-Services ApplicationPlatform (MSAP) database which contains call processing records (CPRs)for processing of calls to and from various subscribers. The ISCP alsotypically includes a terminal subsystem referred to as a ServiceCreation Environment or SCE for programming the MSAP database in the SCPfor the services subscribed to by each individual customer.

The components of the ISCP are connected by an internal, high-speed datanetwork, such as a token ring network. The internal data network alsotypically connects to a number of interfaces for communication withexternal data systems, e.g. for provisioning and maintenance. In thepreferred embodiment, one of these interfaces provides communications toand from the SCP 19 via a packet switched data network, such as theTCP/IP network 27.

The SCP may be implemented in a variety of other ways. The SCP may be ageneral purpose computer running a database application and may beassociated with one of the switches. Another alternative is to implementa database of CPRs or the like within an STP (see e.g. Farris et al.U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,177).

The preferred telephone network also includes one or more intelligentperipherals (IPs) 23 to provide enhanced announcement and digitcollection capabilities and speech recognition. The IP 23 is essentiallysimilar to that disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,583to Wheeler, Jr. et al. entitled "Advanced Intelligent Network withIntelligent Peripherals Interfaced to the Integrated Services ControlPoint," and the disclosure of the network and operation of the IPdisclosed from that Patent is incorporated herein in its entirety byreference.

The IP 23 may connect to one or more central offices 11. The connectionstransport both communication traffic and signaling. The connectionbetween a central office 11 and the IP 23 may use a combination of a T1and a Simplified Message Desk Interface (SMDI) link, but preferably thisconnection utilizes a primary rate interface (PRI) type ISDN link. Eachsuch connection provides digital transport for a number of two-way voicegrade type telephone communications and a channel transporting signalingdata messages in both directions between the switch and the IP.

As discussed more later, there are certain circumstances in which theSCP 19 communicates with the IP 23. These communications could utilizean 1129 protocol and go through an SSP type central office 11 and theSS7 network. However, in the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1, the IP 23and the SCP 19 communicate with each other via a separate secondsignalling network 27. These communications through network 27 betweenthe IP and the SCP may utilize an 1129+ protocol or a generic datainterface (GDI) protocol as discussed in the above incorporated Patentto Wheeler, Jr. et al.

The IP 23 can provide a wide range of call processing functions, such asmessage playback and digit collection. In the preferred system, the IPalso performs speaker identification/verification (SIV) on audio signalsreceived from subscribers. Specifically, the IP 23 used for the personaldial tone service includes a voice authentication module to perform thenecessary speaker identification/verification function. The IP 23 alsoincludes storage for subscriber specific template or voice featureinformation, for use in identifying and authenticating subscribers basedon speech.

In the simplest form, the IP 23 serving a subscriber's local area storesthe templates and performs the speaker identification/verification.However, in a system serving a large geographic area and providingpersonal dial tone to a large, roaming subscriber base, the templatesmay be transferred between SCP/IP pairs, to allow an IP near asubscriber's current location to perform the speakeridentification/verification on a particular call. For example, if aremote IP 23_(R) required a template for a subscriber from the regionserved by the IP 23, the remote IP 23_(R) would transmit a templaterequest message through the network 27 to the IP 23. The IP 23 wouldtransmit the requested template back through the network 27 to theremote IP 23_(R).

In a network such as shown in FIG. 1, routing typically is based ondialed digit information, profile information regarding the link orstation used by the calling party and profile information regarding aline or station in some way associated with the dialed digits. Eachexchange is identified by one or more three digit codes. Each such codecorresponds to the NXX digits of an NXX-XXXX (seven digit) telephonenumber or the three digits following the area code digits (NPA) in aten-digit telephone number. The telephone company also assigns atelephone number to each subscriber line connected to each switch. Theassigned telephone number includes the area code and exchange code forthe serving central office and four unique digits.

Central office switches utilize office equipment (OE) numbers toidentify specific equipment such as physical links or circuitconnections. For example, a subscriber's line might terminate on a pairof terminals on the main distribution frame of a switch 11. The switchidentifies the terminals, and therefore the particular line, by an OEnumber assigned to that terminal pair. For a variety of reasons, theoperating company may assign different telephone numbers to the one lineat the same or different times. For example, a local carrier may changethe telephone number because a subscriber sells a house and a newsubscriber moves in and receives a new number. However, the OE numberfor the terminals and thus the line itself remains the same.

On a normal call, an end office type switch will detect and off-hookcondition on the line and provide dial tone. The switch identifies theline by its OE number. The office also retrieves profile informationcorresponding to the OE number and off-hook line. If needed, the profileidentifies the currently assigned telephone number. The switch in theend office receives dialed digits and routes the call. The switch mayroute the call to another line serviced by that switch, or the switchmay route the call over trunks and possibly through one or more tandemoffices to an office that serves the called party's station or line. Theswitch terminating a call to a destination will also utilize profileinformation relating to the destination, for example to forward the callif appropriate, to apply distinctive ringing, etc.

AIN call processing involves a query and response procedure between anSSP capable switching office 11 and a database system, such as the SCP19. The SSP capable switching offices initiate such processing upondetection of triggering events. At some point during processing of atelephone call, a central office switching system 11 will recognize anevent in call processing as a `Point in Call` (PIC) which triggers aquery to the SCP 19. Ultimately, the SCP 19 will return an instructionto the switching system 11 to continue call processing. This type of AINcall processing can utilize a variety of different types of triggers tocause the SSPs 11 to initiate the query and response signalingprocedures with the SCP 19. In the presently preferred embodimentsdiscussed below, the personal dial tone service utilizes an off-hookimmediate trigger, a dialed number trigger and a terminating attempttrigger (TAT), to facilitate different aspects of the service.

In accord with one aspect of the present invention, before providingdial-tone service, the SSP central office 11 that is serving an outgoingcall extends the call to the IP 23 providing the speakeridentification/verification (SIV) functionality. In the preferredembodiments, this operation involves AIN type call routing to the IP.The IP 23 prompts the caller and collects identifying information,preferably in the form of speech. The IP analyzes the caller's input toidentify the caller as a particular subscriber. If successful, the IPsignals the SSP to load profile data for that subscriber into theregister assigned to the call in the call store. In most of thepreferred service applications, the IP disconnects, and the SSP centraloffice 11 processes the call in accord with the loaded profileinformation. For example, the central office 11 may now provide actualdial tone or provide a message prompting the caller to dial adestination number. The caller dials digits, and the central officeprocesses the digits to provide the desired outgoing call service, inthe normal manner. The IP may stay on the line, to monitor speech andthus caller identity, for some service applications.

The call processing by the central office switch 11 utilizes the loadedsubscriber profile information. For example, the profile data mayindicate specific procedures for billing the call to this subscriber onsome account not specifically linked to the originating telephonestation or line. For example, in a college dormitory, the billinginformation might specify billing of a student's calls to the account ofthe student's parent(s). Any call restrictions, imposed at the wish ofthe parents, would be reflected in the profile. The switch wouldrestrict the calling services accordingly, e.g. to limit distance,cumulative cost and/or duration of calls.

The inventors also envision use of selected subscriber profileinformation on incoming calls. When a serving central office SSP 11detects a call to a line having the personal dial tone service,processing hits a terminating attempt trigger (TAT). The SSP interactswith the SCP 19 and routes the call to the IP 23. The IP 23 prompts thecaller to identify a desired called party, e.g. one of the studentssharing the dormitory line. Menu announcement together with either digitcollection or preferably speech recognition processing by the IP 23facilitates identification of the desired called party from thoseassociated with the line. Based on identification of the calledsubscriber, the IP 23 signals the SSP switch 11 to load profile data forthat subscriber into the register assigned to the call in the callstore. In this case, however, the switch 11 uses selectively loadedprofile information for terminating the call. The IP disconnects, andthe SSP central office 11 processes the call in accord with the loadedprofile information.

For example, the central office 11 may provide a distinctive ringingsignal corresponding to the identified subscriber. This service enablesdistinctive ringing for multiple subscribers on one line withoutassigning each subscriber a separate telephone number. The loadedprofile information may specify call forwarding in event of a busy orno-answer condition. This enables routing of the call to the identifiedsubscriber's mailbox, or another alternate destination selected by thesubscriber, even though the call did not utilize a unique telephonenumber uniquely assigned to the called subscriber.

The present invention also encompasses a procedure in which a subscribercalls in from a line not specifically designated for personal dial toneservice. The network routes the call to the IP 23, and the IP identifiesthe subscriber and the line from which the subscriber called-in. Thesubscriber can interact with the IP 23 to have her personal dial toneservice associated with that line, either for one call or for someselected period of time. The IP 23 instructs the appropriate centraloffice switch(es) 11 to load profile data associated with thesubscriber.

The IP 23 might instruct the end office switch to load the profile dataonly in the assigned call store register. The switch would use theprofile data only for a single call, for example to bill a call from apay-phone or a hotel room telephone to the subscriber's home account.Alternatively, the IP 23 might instruct the central office 11 servingthe line to the calling station 1 to utilize a virtual office equipmentnumber (OE) and associated profile data for all calls to and from thatline for some period of time. In this later example, the IP 23 wouldalso instruct the central office 11 serving the line to the subscriber'shome station 1 to modify the subscriber's profile to forward calls forthe subscriber's telephone number. The modified profile data in the homeoffice 11 would result in forwarding of the subscriber's incoming callsthrough the office 11 to the selected station 1, for the set period oftime.

The present invention relies on the programmable functionality of thecentral office switches and the enhanced call processing functionalitiesoffered by the IPs. To understand these various functionalities, it maybe helpful to review the structure and operation of a program controlledcentral office and one implementation of an IP. Subsequent descriptionwill explain several of the above outlined call processing examples ingreater detail.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an electronic program controlledswitch which may be used as any one of the SSP type central offices 11in the system of FIG. 1. As illustrated, the switch includes a number ofdifferent types of modules. In particular, the illustrated switchincludes interface modules 51 (only two of which are shown), acommunications module 53 and an administrative module 55.

The interface modules 51 each include a number of interface units 0 ton. The interface units terminate lines from subscribers' stations,trunks, T1 carrier facilities, etc. Each such termination is identifiedby an OE number. Where the interfaced circuit is analog, for example asubscriber loop, the interface unit will provide analog to digitalconversion and digital to analog conversion. Alternatively, the lines ortrunks may use digital protocols such as T1 or ISDN. Each interfacemodule 51 also includes a digital service unit (not shown) which is usedto generate call progress tones and receive and detect dialed digits inpulse code or dual-tone multifrequency form.

In the illustrated embodiment, the unit 0 of the interface module 51'provides an interface for the signaling and communication links to theIP 23. In this implementation, the links preferably consist of one ormore ISDN PRI circuits each of which carries 23 bearer (B) channels forcommunication traffic and one data (D) channel for signaling data.

Each interface module 51 includes, in addition to the noted interfaceunits, a duplex microprocessor based module controller and a duplex timeslot interchange, referred to as a TSI in the drawing. Digital wordsrepresentative of voice information are transferred in two directionsbetween interface units via the time slot interchange (intramodule callconnections) or transmitted in two directions through the networkcontrol and timing links to the time multiplexed switch 57 and thence toanother interface module (intermodule call connection).

The communication module 53 includes the time multiplexed switch 57 anda message switch 59. The time multiplexed switch 57 provides timedivision transfer of digital voice data packets between voice channelsof the interface modules 51 and transfers signaling data messagesbetween the interface modules. The switch 57 together with the TSIs ofthe interface modules form the overall switch fabric for selectivelyconnecting the interface units in call connections.

The message switch 59 interfaces the administrative module 55 to thetime multiplexed switch 57, so as to provide a route through the timemultiplexed switch permitting two-way transfer of control relatedmessages between the interface modules 51 and the administrative module55. In addition, the message switch 59 terminates special data links,for example a link for receiving a synchronization carrier used tomaintain digital synchronism.

The administrative module provides high level control of all callprocessing operations of the switch 11. The administrative module 55includes an administrative module processor 61, which is a computerequipped with disc storage 63, for overall control of CO operations. Theadministrative module processor 61 communicates with the interfacemodules 51 through the communication module 55. The administrativemodule 55 may include one or more input/output processors (not shown)providing interfaces to terminal devices for technicians and data linksto operations systems for traffic, billing, maintenance data, etc.

A CCIS terminal 73 and an associated data unit 71 provide an SS7signalling link between the administrative module processor 61 and oneof the STPs 15 (see FIG. 1). Although only one such link is shown,preferably there are a plurality of such links providing redundantconnections to both STPs of a mated pair and providing sufficientcapacity to carry all necessary signaling to and from the particularoffice 11. The SS7 signaling through the terminal 73, the data unit 71and the STPs provides two-way signaling data transport for call set-uprelated messages to and from other offices. These call set-up relatedmessages typically utilize the ISDN-UP (ISDN-users part) protocolportion of SS7. The SS7 signaling through the terminal 73, the data unit71 and the STPs also provides two-way signaling data transport forcommunications between the office 11 and database systems or the like,such as the SCP 19. The communications between the office 11 and thedatabase systems or the like utilize the TCAP (transactions capabilitiesapplications part) protocol portion of SS7.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the administrative module 55 also includes acall store 67 and a program store 69. Although shown as separateelements for convenience, these are typically implemented as memoryelements within the computer serving as the administrative moduleprocessor 61. The program store 69 stores program instructions whichdirect operations of the computer serving as the administrative moduleprocessor 61.

For each call in progress, the call store 67 stores translation and userprofile information retrieved from disc storage 63 together with routinginformation and any temporary information needed for processing thecall. For example, for a residential customer initiating a call, thecall store 67 would receive and store line identification and outgoingcall billing information corresponding to an off-hook line initiating acall. For the personal dial-tone service, the assigned register willreceive and store different profile data depending on the particularsubscriber associated with any given call. A register is assigned andreceives profile data from the disc memory both for originatingsubscribers on outgoing calls and for terminating subscribers onincoming calls.

A variety of adjunct processor systems known in the telephone industrycan be used as the IP 23. The critical requirements are that the IPsystem process multiple calls and perform the subscriber identificationfunctions, preferably by speaker identification and authentication. FIG.3 is a functional diagram illustration of an IP 23 for performing thesubscriber identification functions, possibly by dialed digit input andpreferably by analysis and recognition of speech.

The preferred IP architecture utilizes separate modules for differenttypes of services or functions, for example, one or two Direct Talk typevoice server modules 231A, 231B for interfacing ISDN PRI trunks to theSSP central office 11. Separate modules 233, 235 perform voiceauthentication and speech recognition. The IP 23 includes a variety ofadditional modules for specific types of services, such as a servermodule 237 for fax mail, and another server 239 for voice mail services.The various modules communicate with one another via an internal datacommunication system or bus 240, which may be an Ethernet type localarea network.

Each Direct Talk module 231A or 231B comprises a general purposecomputer, such as an IBM RS-6000, having digital voice processing cardsfor sending and receiving speech and other audio frequency signals, suchas IBM D-talk 600 cards. Each voice processing card connects to a voiceserver card which provides the actual interface to T1 or primary rateinterface ISDN trunks to the switching office. In the PRIimplementation, the Direct Talk computer also includes a signaling card,providing two-way signaling communication over the D-channel of the PRIlink. Each Direct Talk computer also include an interface card forproviding two-way communications over the internal data communicationssystem 240.

The voice processing cards in the Direct Talk modules 231A, 231B providevoice message transmission and dialed digit collection capabilities. Themodules 231A, 231B also perform the necessary line interface functionsfor communications to and from those servers which do not incorporateactual line interfaces. For example, for facsimile mail, a Direct Talkmodule 231 connected to a call would demodulate incoming data andconvert the data to a digital format compatible with the internal datacommunication network 240. The data would then be transferred overnetwork 240 to the fax server 237. For outgoing facsimile transmission,the server 237 would transfer the data to one of the Direct Talk modulesover the network 240. The Direct Talk module 231 would reformat and/ormodulate the data as appropriate for transmission over the ISDN link tothe switch 11.

The Direct Talk modules provide a similar interface function for theother servers, such as the voice mail server 239, the speech recognitionmodule 235 and the voice authentication module 233. For incoming speechsignals, the Direct Talk module connected to a call receives digitalspeech signals in the standard pulse code modulation format carried on aB-channel of an ISDN link. The Direct Talk module reformats the speechdata and transmits that data over the internal network 240 to the serveror module performing the appropriate function, for example to theauthentication module 233 for analysis and comparison of features tostored templates or feature data for known subscribers.

In the outgoing direction, the currently connected Direct Talk modulemay play an announcement from memory, e.g. to prompt a caller to saytheir name. Alternatively, the Direct Talk module may receive digitizedspeech over the network 240 from one of the other modules, such as astored message retrieved from voice mail server 239. The Direct Talkmodule reformats the speech signal as needed for transmission over theISDN B-channel to the caller.

The illustrated IP also includes a communication server 243. Thecommunication server 243 connects between the data communication system240 and a router 241 which provides communications access to the TCP/IPnetwork 27 that serves as the second signaling communication system. Thecommunication server 243 controls communications between the moduleswithin the IP and the second signaling communication system. The server243 and the router 241 facilitate communication between the elements ofthe IP 23 and the SCP 19. The IP may also use this communication systemto communicate with other IP's, for example to send subscriber voicetemplate information to the remote IP 23, (FIG. 1) or to receive suchinformation from that IP or some other network node.

The personal dial tone service relies on the voice authentication module233 to perform the necessary speaker identification/verificationfunction. For the identification and authentication of subscribers, thevoice authentication module 233 within the IP 23 stores a template orother feature or voice pattern information for each person who has thepersonal dial tone service in the area that the IP services. Forexample, if the subscriber utilizes the personal dial tone service froma particular line, such as a shared line in a dormitory or the like, theIP stores the subscriber's voice pattern information in a fileassociated with the office equipment (OE) number of the particular line.If the IP 23 serving a call does not store the template or feature datafor a particular subscriber, the IP 23 may obtain subscriberidentification by dialed digit input and then obtain a copy of thetemplate or feature data from a remote IP 23_(R) via communicationthrough the TCP/IP network 27, in order to authenticate the subscriber'sidentity.

Using current technology, a new subscriber would get on line with the IPserving that subscriber and `train` that IP by speaking certain phrases.From the received audio signals representing those phrases, the IP wouldstore templates or other pattern information for use in identifyingand/or verifying that a caller is the particular subscriber.

During actual call processing, the voice authentication module 233receives speech information from the caller. The voice authenticationmodule 233 compares the received information to its stored template orfeature data to identify a calling party as a particular subscriber.

The present invention also relies on the speech recognition capabilityof the module 235, particularly in processing of incoming calls incertain situations. The speech recognition module 235 enables the IP toanalyze incoming audio information to recognize vocabulary words. The IP23 interprets the spoken words and phrases to determine subsequentaction. For example, the IP might recognize the caller speaking the nameof a called subscriber and use the subscriber identification to instructthe terminating central office to control the call in accord with thatsubscriber's profile.

The preferred routing of the calls in accord with the invention utilizesAIN type call processing. To understand the call processing, it may behelpful to consider several specific examples in more detail.

In a first example, consider an outgoing call from the station 1_(A) tothe station 1_(B). Assume per call assignment of profile data to theoriginating line, for personal dial tone service on each outgoing call.FIG. 4 provides a simplified flow diagram of the signal flow andprocessing for such an outgoing call.

Assume use of a standard telephone for purposes of this example. Theperson lifts the handset creating an off-hook state in the telephone anda corresponding signal or change in state on the line to the centraloffice 11 (step S1). In this call flow, the off-hook signal is a type ofservice request, i.e. a request to make an outgoing call. The servingcentral office 11₁ detects the off-hook and commences its callprocessing. Specifically, the central office assigns a register in thecall store 67 to this call and loads profile information associated withthe off-hook line from the disc storage 63 into the assigned register.In this case, the central office 11₁ is an SSP capable office, and theloaded profile data indicates an off-hook immediate trigger set atagainst the particular line. The serving SSP type office 11₁ thereforedetects this off-hook PIC as an AIN trigger (step S2).

In response to the off-hook and the off-hook trigger set in thesubscriber's profile, the SSP type central office switch 11₁ launches aquery to the SCP 19 (step S3). Specifically, the SSP 11₁ creates a TCAPquery message containing relevant information, such as the officeequipment (OE) number assigned to the off-hook line, and transmits thatquery over an SS7 link to one of the STPs 15. The query includes adestination point code and/or a global title translation addressing themessage to the SCP 19, and the STP 15 relays the query message over theappropriate link to the SCP 19. The query from the SSP central office11₁ identifies the caller's line by its associated office equipment (OE)number and possibly by a single telephone number associated with theoff-hook line.

In response to a query, the SCP 19 accesses its a database, typically,the MSAP database set up in the ISCP, to determine how to process theparticular call. The SCP 19 identifies an access key in the query anduses the key to retrieve the appropriate record from the database. Inthis case, the query indicates an off-hook trigger as the trigger event,therefore the SCP 19 uses the calling party office equipment (OE) numberas the access key. The SCP 19 retrieves a call processing record (CPR)corresponding to the office equipment (OE) number associated with theoff-hook line and proceeds in accord with that CPR (step S4).

For the example of the personal dial tone service, the CPR will provideinformation necessary for routing the call to some node of the networkthat will perform speaker identification/verification (SIV). In thepreferred embodiment, the SIV is a function performed by an IntelligentPeripheral (IP), therefore the CPR provides information for routing thecall to the nearest available IP having the SIV capability.

Based on the CPR, the SCP 19 formulates a response message instructingthe SSP central office 11₁ serving the customer to route the call. Inthis case, the message includes information, e.g. a office equipment(OE) number or telephone number, used for routing a call to theidentified IP. The SCP 19 formulates a TCAP message in SS7 format, withthe destination point code identifying the SSP office 11₁. The SCP 19transmits the TCAP response message back over the SS7 link to the STP15, and the STP 15 in turn routes the TCAP message to the SSP centraloffice 11₁ (see step S5).

The SSP type switch in the central office 11₁ uses the routinginformation to connect the call to one of the lines or channels to theIP 23. A two-way voice grade call connection now extends between thecalling station 1_(A) and the IP 23 (step S6). In the present example,the switch actually connects the off-hook line to the line to the IPbefore providing dial tone.

As noted above, the communication link to the IP 23 provides both lineconnections and signaling, preferably over a primary rate interface(PRI) type ISDN link. When the central office 11₁ extends the call fromthe calling party's line to a line circuit (over a B channel) to the IP23, the switch in that office also provides call related data over thesignaling link (D channel for ISDN). The call related data, for example,includes the office equipment (OE) number normally associated with theoff-hook line and possibly the telephone number for that line.

In response to the incoming call, the IP 23 will seize the line, and itwill launch its own query to the SCP 19 (step S7). In the preferrednetwork illustrated in FIG. 1, the IP 23 and the SCP 19 communicate witheach other via a separate second signalling network 27, for exampleutilizing either an 1129+ protocol or a generic data interface (GDI)protocol as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,583 to Wheeler, Jr. et al.The query from the IP 23 again identifies the caller's line by at leastits associated office equipment (OE) number.

In response to the query from the IP 23, the SCP 19 again accesses theappropriate CPR (step S8) and provides a responsive instruction backthrough the network 27 to the IP 23 (step S9). Although the IP 23 couldpassively monitor any speech that the user might utter, the preferredimplementation utilizes a `Challenge Phase` to prompt the user to inputspecific identifying information. In this case, the instruction causesthe IP 23 to provide a prompt message over the connection to the caller(step S10). Here, the signal to the caller may be a standard dial toneor any other appropriate audio signal. Preferably, the instruction fromthe SCP 19 causes the IP 23 to provide an audio announcement promptingthe caller to speak personal information. In one preferred example, instep S10 the IP plays an audio prompt message asking the caller, `Pleasesay your full name`. The process may ask for any appropriate identifyinginformation.

The signal received by the IP 23 goes over the lines and through thecentral office switch(es) for presentation via the off-hook telephone1_(A) to the calling party. In response, the caller will speakidentifying information into their off-hook telephone, and the networkwill transport the audio signal to the IP 23 (step S11).

As noted above, an IP 23 can provide a wide range of call processingfunctions, such as message playback and digit collection. In thepreferred system, the IP also performs speakeridentification/verification (SIV) on the audio signal received from theoff-hook telephone in step S11. When the IP 23 receives speech inputinformation during actual call processing, for this service example, theIP analyzes the speech S12 to extract certain characteristic information(step S12).

The IP 23 stores a template or other voice pattern information for eachperson who has the personal dial tone service in the area that thenormally IP services. If the IP 23 does not store the particulartemplate or feature information it needs to process a call, the IP 23can communicate with a remote IP 23_(R) to obtain that information. Inthe present shared line example, the IP 23 will store template orfeature data for each subscriber associated with the particular off-hookline.

When the IP 23 receives input speech and extracts the characteristicinformation during actual call processing, the IP compares the extractedspeech information to stored pattern information, to identity andauthenticate the particular caller. In the present example, the voiceauthentication module 233 in the IP 23 compares the extracted speechinformation to the stored template or feature data for each subscriberassociated with the particular off-hook line.

In step S13, the IP 23 determines if the information extracted from thespeech input matches any of the stored template data feature data for anidentifiable subscriber (within some threshold level of certainty). Ifthere is a match, the IP now knows the identity of the callingsubscriber. Based on the identification of the calling subscriber, theIP 23 selects a virtual office equipment (OE) number from storage thatcorresponds to the subscriber.

The IP 23 formulates a D-channel signaling message containing thevirtual office equipment (OE) number together with an instruction toload that OE number into the register assigned to the call in place ofthe OE number of the off-hook line. The IP 23 supplies the message tothe SSP central office switch 11₁ over the D-channel of the ISDN PRIlink (step S14). In response, the administrative module processor 61rewrites the OE number in the register assigned to the call using the OEnumber received from the IP 23.

Upon rewriting the OE number in the register, the administrative moduleprocessor 61 of central office switch 11₁ also reloads the profileinformation in the register (step S15). Specifically, the administrativemodule processor 61 retrieves profile information associated with thevirtual office equipment (OE) number from the disc storage 63 into theregister. As such, the profile information in the assigned register inthe call store 67 now corresponds to the identified subscriber, ratherthan to the off-hook line.

The profile information provides a wide range of data relating to thesubscriber's services. The profile data provides necessary billinginformation, enabling billing from the call to this particularsubscriber. The profile also defines various service features availableto this subscriber on outgoing calls, such as three-way calling. Theprofile may define a class of calling service available to thesubscriber. In the dormitory example, the caller may be allowed a setdollar amount for long distance calls per month (e.g. $50.00). Theprofile data will indicate the remaining amount at the time of the calland will cause the switch to interrupt service when the available amountis exhausted. Other class of service restrictions might enable longdistance calls only if collect and/or only if calling one or twospecified numbers (e.g. only to the parents' house). The class ofservice might enable only long distance calls within a region or countrybut not international calls.

In the presently preferred implementation, when the central officeswitch 11₁ reloads the profile, the central office disconnects the linkto the IP 23 and connects tone receivers to the caller's line.Optionally, the central office 11₁ may provide a `dial tone` or othermessage over the line (step S16). The caller now dials digits in thenormal manner (step S17), and the switch in the central office 11₁ loadsthe dialed digits into the assigned register within the call store 67.The central office 11₁ utilizes the dialed digits and the subscriber'sprofile data to process the call (S18). For example, if the dialeddigits represent a call within the subscriber's permitted class ofservice, the switch completes the call to the destination station 1_(B)using the dialed digits in the normal manner. If the profile datarequires a particular billing treatment, e.g. to bill a long distancecall to the subscriber, the switch makes the appropriate record andforwards the record to the exchange carrier company's accounting officeequipment.

In the shared line example, each person normally expected to use theline to station 1_(A) is a different subscriber to the personal dialtone service. As the subscribers make outgoing calls, they each receivetheir own individualized service over the line on each separate call, inprecisely the manner described above relative to steps S1 to S18. Forexample, each subscriber may receive a different level of callingprivileges and/or class of service based on their ability and/or desireto pay for telephone services.

Returning to step S13, the extracted information characterizing theinput speech signals may not match any of the templates or feature dataused by the IP 23. In this event, the process flows to step S19. The IPwill count the number of tries or attempts to identify the subscriberand permit some maximum number of failed attempts (N). Assume, forexample, that the software allows only two identification attempts onone call (N=2). On the first failure, the number of tries is less thanN, therefore processing returns to step S10, and the IP 23 againtransmits the prompt for speech input. The caller again speaks therequested input information (S11), and the authentication module 233again analyzes the input information (S12). If the second inputadequately matches a stored subscriber's information in step S13, theprocessing flows through steps S14 to S18 to complete the call asdescribed above.

However, if the extracted speech information does not match a storedsubscriber template or feature data, processing again flows to step S19.If the number of tries now corresponds to the limit N, for example onthe second failed attempt, the processing branches to step S20. The IP23 may now transmit a message indicating denial of service, althoughthis is optional. If provided, the message states that only a limitedclass of service is available in view of the problems in recognizing thecaller as a known subscriber.

The IP 23 formulates a D-channel signaling message instructing thecentral office switch 11₁ to process the call in accord with defaultconditions and transmits that instruction to the central office switch(step S21). The instruction could include a default OE numbercorresponding to a default profile or the message could instruct theswitch to proceed using the OE and profile data for the off-hook lineitself. The IP 23 supplies the message to the SSP central office switch11₁ over the D-channel of the ISDN PRI link (step S21). Theadministrative module processor 61 resumes call processing using theappropriate default OE and profile.

In the preferred embodiment, the switch provides a normal dial tone(S22), collects dialed digits from the caller (S23) and processes thecall (S24). However, the default profile provides only some limitedclass of service, for example only emergency 911 service or 911 serviceplus flat rate local calling.

In the above example, the network disconnected the IP 23 afteridentifying the subscriber and providing the subscriber's virtual OEnumber to the serving central office 11. For some applications of thepersonal dial tone service, the central office 11 would maintain abridged connection of the IP 23 on the line, to enable the IP to monitorthe call. For example, in a prisoner telephone service, each prisonerwould have only limited telephone rights as specified in each prisoner'sprofile data. To prevent one prisoner from selling their telephoneservice rights to another prisoner, the IP 23 would periodically orconstantly monitor the outgoing speech signals from the prison line. Thevoice authentication module 233 would initially identify the prisonersubscriber as discussed above, and would periodically recheck toauthenticate the identity of the party using the prison line. If thevoice authentication module detects some other party using the line ordid not detect the identified subscriber's speech for some predefinedtime interval, the IP 23 would instruct the serving central officeswitch 11 to disconnect the call. The IP 23 may send messages to theswitch or to other network elements to initiate additional action, suchas profile modification to further limit a particular prisoner'stelephone privileges and/or to notify prison authorities of misuse oftelephone privileges.

The first detailed example discussed above related to personal dial toneservice provided on a per-call basis on a shared use line. Several knownsubscribers might routinely use their personal dial tone service overthe same line. As noted earlier, an alternate form of the personal dialtone service can be activated on a dial-up basis. Consider now anexample of a dial-up activation for a single call.

For this example, assume that a subscriber's normal or `home` telephoneis telephone 1_(B). The end office switch 11_(N) stores the subscriberprofile data for the line associated with that telephone station. Nowassume that the subscriber is using station 1_(A) connected through atelephone line to central office 11₁. FIG. 5 provides a simplified flowdiagram of the signal flow and processing for such a call.

The subscriber lifts the handset creating an offhook state in thetelephone 1_(A) and a signal to office 11 (step S31). The servingcentral office 11₁ detects the off-hook and commences its callprocessing. Specifically, the central office assigns a register in thecall store 67 to this call and loads profile information associated withthe off-hook line from the disc storage 63 into the register. In thiscase, the profile data associated with the line does not provide anoff-hook trigger because the line is not specifically associated withthe shared use type personal dial tone service discussed above. Thecentral office 11₁ therefore provides dial tone in the normal manner(step S32).

If making a normal call, the caller would dial a destination number, andthe network would complete the call as dialed. To activate the personaldial tone service, however, the subscriber dials an access numberassigned to that service, such as 1-800-DIALTON, from the station 1_(A)(step S33).

The dialing of an outgoing call, in this case to the access number, isanother type of service request. The central office switch 11₁recognizes the dialed number as a trigger event or `PIC` (step S34). TheSSP type central office 11₁ creates a TCAP query message containingrelevant information, such as the office equipment (OE) number and/ortelephone number assigned to the off-hook line, the dialed number andthe type of triggering event. The office 11₁ transmits that query to theSCP 19 (step S35). Specifically, the SSP central office 11₁ transmitsthe query over an SS7 link to one of the STPs 15. The query includes apoint code and/or a global title translation addressing the message tothe SCP 19, and the STP 15 relays the query message over the appropriatelink to the SCP 19.

In response to a query, the SCP 19 accesses its database to determinehow to process the particular call. In this case, the query indicatesthe dialed number type trigger and provides the digits of the specificnumber dialed. The SCP 19 uses the dialed number as the access key. TheSCP 19 retrieves a call processing record (CPR) corresponding to thatnumber associated with the personal dial tone access function (stepS36). For the current exemplary access, the CPR will provide informationnecessary for routing the call to the IP 23 that will perform thenecessary speaker identification/verification (SIV).

Based on the CPR, the SCP 19 formulates a response message instructingthe SSP central office 11₁ serving the customer to route the call. Inthis case, the message includes information, e.g. a office equipment(OE) number or telephone number, used for routing a call to theidentified IP. The SCP 19 formulates a TCAP response in SS7 format andtransmits the TCAP response message back to the SSP central office 11₁(see step S37).

The SSP type switch in the central office 11₁ uses the routinginformation to connect the call to a line or channel to the IP 23. Avoice grade call connection now extends between the calling station1_(A) and the IP 23 (step S38).

The central office 11₁ provides a signaling message to the IP 23 withthe call. In this case, the signaling message includes the dialed digitsindicating a call to the personal dial tone access number. The signalingmessage also includes either the office equipment number or thetelephone number of the line to the calling station 1_(A).

As in the earlier example, the IP 23 will seize the line for theincoming call and launch a query to the SCP 19 through the TCP/IPnetwork 27 (step S39). The SCP 19 accesses an appropriate CPR (S40), andbased on that CPR, the SCP 19 transmits back a message (S41) instructingthe IP 23 to execute a program or script for the dial-up access to thepersonal dial-tone service.

The IP initially plays a greeting and a prompt message (S42) andcollects spoken input information (S43). The IP 23 may also play aprompt and collect digits representing the subscriber's normal or hometelephone number. The voice authentication module 233 analyzes thespoken identification information to extract characteristic information(S44) and compares the extracted information to stored template orfeature data to determine if there is an adequate match to the knownsubscriber data (S45), as in the earlier example.

In step S45, the IP 23 determines if the information extracted from thespeech input matches any of the stored template data feature data for anidentifiable subscriber. If there is a match, the IP now knows theidentity of the calling subscriber. Based on the identity of thesubscriber, the IP 23 obtains the subscriber's profile data from thecentral office 11_(N) serving the subscriber's home telephone line. Ifthe IP 23 is in direct signaling communication with the home centraloffice 11_(N), for example via an ISDN D-channel or an SMDI link, the IP23 may directly request and receive the profile data over the signalinglink. If the IP and the switch are not in direct communication, the IPmay provide a message notifying the SCP 19, and the SCP 19 would obtainthe data from the switch and provide it back to the IP 23.

The IP 23 formulates a D-channel signaling message containing thesubscriber's profile information together with an instruction to loadthat information into the register assigned to the call in place of theprofile information corresponding to the off-hook line (step S46). TheIP 23 supplies the message to the SSP central office switch 11₁ over theD-channel of the ISDN PRI link. In response, the administrative moduleprocessor 61 rewrites the profile data in the register assigned to thecall using the data from the IP 23 (step S47). As such, the profileinformation in the assigned register now corresponds to the identifiedsubscriber.

When the central office switch 11₁ reloads the profile, the centraloffice disconnects the link to the IP 23 and connects tone receivers tothe caller's line. The central office 11₁ may also provide a standarddial tone or other message over the line (step S48). The caller can nowdial digits in the normal manner (step S49), and the switch in thecentral office 11₁ will load the dialed digits into the assignedregister within the call store 67. The central office 11₁ utilizes thedialed digits and the subscriber's profile data to process the call(step S50). For example, the switch in central office 11₁ may providethe appropriate record to bill the outgoing call to the subscriber'saccount.

As in the earlier example, the preferred embodiment allows up to N triesor attempts to provide recognizable subscriber identificationinformation. Thus, if in step S45 the extracted informationcharacterizing the input speech signals did not match any of thetemplates or feature data used by the IP 23, then the process flows tostep S51. If the current number of attempts for recognition on this callis less than N, processing returns to step S42, and the IP 23 againtransmits the prompt for speech input. The caller again speaks therequested input information (S43), and the authentication module 233again analyzes the input information (S44). If the second inputadequately matches a stored subscriber's information S45, the processingflows through steps S46 to S50 to complete the call as described above.

However, if the extracted speech information does not match a storedsubscriber template or feature data, processing again flows to step S51.If the number of tries now corresponds to the limit N, the processingbranches to step S52. The IP 23 preferably transmits a messageindicating denial of service (S52), and then transmits a message to thecentral office 11₁ signifying disconnection of the access call (S53). Itshould be noted that, in this example, normal service provided over theline to station 1_(A) is available on a subsequent call. The failure torecognize the caller as a personal dial tone subscriber only preventsthe caller from using the personal dial tone services of a subscriber tothat service, for example specialized billing of calls to thatsubscriber's account instead of to the account normally associated withthe line to the calling station 1_(A).

In the above discussed dial-up access example, the dial tone service waspersonalized for a single outgoing call by temporarily loading thesubscriber's profile data into the register assigned to the outgoingcall in the originating central office 11₁. The system can provide suchservice to the subscriber over any line or to any telephone station,including pay telephone stations.

The present invention also enables activation of the personal dial toneservice on a particular line for some predetermined period of time, forexample to enable use of office or business services from some remotelocation while a business subscriber is out of the office. This type ofoperation involves an activation call requesting the service on aparticular line for the desired period. Consider now an example of sucha time activated service.

For this example, assume that a subscriber's normal business telephoneis telephone 1_(B). The end office switch 11_(N) stores the subscriberprofile data for the line associated with that telephone station. Nowassume that the subscriber is using station 1_(A) connected through atelephone line to central office 11₁ for business related communicationservices. The business related communication services include bothincoming call related services and outgoing call related services.

To activate the personal dial tone service, the subscriber again liftsthe handset at station 1_(A), receives dial tone from the central office11₁ and dials the access number assigned to that service. The networkuses AIN type processing to route the call to the IP 23, as in theexample discussed above relative to FIG. 5.

As in the earlier examples, the IP 23 seizes the line for the incomingcall and launches a query to the SCP 19 through the TCP/IP network 27.The SCP 19 transmits back a message instructing the IP 23 to play agreeting and a prompt message and collect and analyze spoken inputinformation to identify and authenticate the subscriber. The instructionfrom the SCP 19 also causes the IP 23 to prompt the subscriber andobtain input information regarding the time period for serviceactivation and possible to obtain digits representing the subscriber'snormal business telephone number. The process of calling the accessnumber and interacting with the IP to activate the personal dial toneservice on a line for the desired period is another type of servicerequest.

For outgoing call processing, the IP 23 signals the central office 11₁serving the line to station 1_(A) to set an off-hook trigger in theprofile data associated with that line. The IP also obtains the profileinformation from the switch 11_(N) serving the station 1_(B) andprovides that information together with a virtual OE number to thecentral office 11₁. The office 11₁ stores the profile in its disc memory63 in such a manner that the switch in that office can use the virtualOE number to retrieve that subscriber's profile. For incoming calls tothe subscriber, the IP 23 transmits a signaling message to thesubscriber's home office 11_(N) to set a terminating attempt trigger(TAT) against the line to the subscriber's office telephone 1_(B).

The IP 23 also transmits a message through the TCP/IP network 27 to theSCP 19 advising the SCP 19 of the service activation. This messageidentifies the subscriber, for example by their normal telephone numberand identifies the telephone number and office equipment (OE) numberassociated with the line to station 1_(A) that the subscriber selectedfor their personal dial tone service.

In response to the message from the IP 23, the SCP 19 now establishes ormodifies two CPRs for this subscriber. One CPR controls processing ofcalls to the subscriber's normal business telephone number to enablerouting to the station 1_(A), and the other controls routing of outgoingcalls from that station to the IP 23 for speakeridentification/verification (SIV) processing.

Subsequently, when there is an outgoing call from the station 1_(A), thenetwork will route the call to the IP 23 to determine if the caller isthe subscriber or some other party, exactly as discussed in the per-callservice from a shared use line (FIG. 4). As in that earlier example, ifthe IP identifies the caller as the personal dial tone subscriber, thenthe IP 23 provides the virtual OE to enable loading of subscriber'sprofile from disc memory 63. However, if the IP determines that thecaller is not the personal dial tone subscriber, the IP instructs theoriginating office 11₁ to simply provide dial tone and complete the callin the normal manner. The central office 11 therefore will utilize theoffice equipment (OE) number and profile information normally associatedwith the line, instead of those for the personal dial tone subscriber.In this manner, it is quite easy for the personal dial tone subscriberand the normal subscriber to both obtain their desired services on theirrespective calls via the same line.

The trigger set against the subscriber's normal telephone number andestablishment of the CPR in the SCP 19 enables redirection of callsnormally intended for the subscriber's business telephone 1_(B) to theline to station 1_(A). Depending on how the subscriber elects to definetheir individual service, the network may simply route the calls to theline to station 1_(A), as a normal AIN forwarded call that simply ringsthe station(s) 1_(A) on the line. Alternatively, the subscriber mayelect an enhanced service which involves routing to the IP, IP promptingand speech recognition to identify the called subscriber and distinctiveringing over the line, in a manner analogous to that used for processingincoming calls in shared use applications, such as the above discusseddormitory example.

As noted above, the dial-up access procedure in this latest serviceexample required the subscriber to specify a time period that thepersonal dial tone service should apply to the particular line. The IP23 stores a record of the time period elected by the subscriber. Whenthe period expires or if the subscriber calls in earlier to change theservice to another line or temporarily cancel the service, the IP 23will provide cancellation notices to the appropriate central offices 11and to the SCP 19. In the example, the IP 23 will notify the office 11to cancel the off-hook trigger set against the line to station 1_(A) andto delete the subscriber's virtual OE number and profile from its discmemory. The IP 23 will also instruct the central office 11_(N) to cancelthe terminating attempt trigger set against the subscriber's businessline to station 1_(B). The notice to the SCP 19 causes the SCP todeactivate the personal dial tone CPR and the call redirection CPR.

The subscriber can then or later interact with the IP 23 to establishtime based temporary personal dial tone service through another line orlocation, as discussed above. In this manner, a subscriber might set upa temporary office in a motel in one city for several days. Thesubscriber might cancel the service while in transit to a new location.Then the subscriber might reestablish the service to set up a temporaryoffice service at a vacation home for a week.

The time based personal dial tone service could be modified in severalmanners. For example, the subscriber might establish a file for use bythe SCP or the IP to establish the personal dial tone service at two ormore locations at specified times, e.g. at the office during officehours and at a home office during other hours. Also, the above exampleof this service relied on downloading the subscriber' profile into theswitch serving the line with which the subscriber is temporarilyassociated. Alternatively, the IP could obtain the profile from thesubscriber's home switch and provide the profile to the serving switchas part of the processing of each outgoing call by the subscriber fromthat line during the specified time period.

A preferred network implementation and a number of specific callprocessing routines have been discussed above by way of examplesrelating to the present invention. However, the preferred embodiment ofthe invention is amenable to a variety of modifications.

For example, the preferred embodiment described above utilizes speakeridentification/verification to recognize the identity of a callingsubscriber. Where such capabilities are not available, the system coulduse an announcement and digit process, for example to obtain an accountnumber and a personal identification number (PIN).

Also, the currently preferred embodiment utilizes AIN routing to the IPand speaker identification/verification elements within the IP toidentify the subscriber for profile selection. As speakeridentification/verification equipment becomes more readily available,cheaper and more compact, it will be possible to build thisfunctionality into the line cards of the end office switches. The switchitself will challenge the caller, analyze spoken information andidentify the subscriber to select the appropriate profile, withoutrouting to an IP or the like.

While the foregoing has described what are considered to be preferredembodiments of the invention, it is understood that variousmodifications may be made therein and that the invention may beimplemented in various forms and embodiments, and that it may be appliedin numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein.It is intended by the following claims to claim all such modificationsand variations which fall within the true scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A telecommunication network comprising:a centraloffice for processing calls originated over a plurality of communicationlinks, said central office including mass storage containing subscriberprofiles for a plurality of subscribers each having an individuallyassigned office equipment number; and a peripheral coupled to thecentral office, said peripheral including a voice authentication modulefor analyzing speech of a caller from one communication link to identifythe caller as one of the subscribers and provide an office equipmentnumber assigned to the identified subscriber to the central office,wherein the central office retrieves one of the subscriber profiles,which corresponds to the office equipment number assigned to theidentified subscriber. and processes at least one call over acommunication link using the retrieved profile.
 2. A network as in claim1, further comprising:a service control point, remote from the centraloffice, said service control point containing a database of callprocessing records for controlling at least some services providedthrough the central office; and a first signaling network separate fromthe communication links for carrying signaling messages between theservice control point and the central office.
 3. A network as in claim2, wherein the peripheral includes a communication server facilitatingsignaling communication between the peripheral and the service controlpoint.
 4. A network as in claim 3, further comprising a second signalingnetwork, separate from the communication links and the first signalingnetwork coupled between the communication server and the service controlpoint.
 5. A network as in claim 4, wherein the peripheral storescharacteristic voice feature data relating to the plurality ofsubscribers for comparison to characteristic data extracted from thespeech of the caller.
 6. A network as in 5, further comprising a remoteperipheral storing characteristic voice feature data relating to anotherplurality of subscribers, wherein the remote peripheral is coupled tothe second signaling network for communication of stored characteristicvoice feature data.
 7. A network as in claim 1, wherein the peripheralstores characteristic voice feature data relating to the plurality ofsubscribers for comparison to characteristic data extracted from thespeech of the caller.
 8. A telecommunication network comprising:aplurality of central office switching systems interconnected by trunkcircuits, for processing calls originated over a plurality ofcommunication links, each of said central office switching systemsincluding mass storage containing subscriber profiles for a plurality ofsubscribers each having an individually assigned office equipmentnumber; and a peripheral coupled to at least one of the central officeswitching systems for interacting with a caller to identify the calleras one of the subscribers, said peripheral providing an office equipmentnumber assigned to the identified subscriber to one or more of thecentral office switching systems, wherein in response to receipt of theoffice equipment number, a central office switching system retrieves acorresponding profile and processes at least one call over acommunication link using the retrieved profile.
 9. A network as in claim8, wherein the central office switching systems comprise telephoneswitches.
 10. A network as in claim 9, wherein at least some of thecommunication links comprise telephone lines.
 11. A network as in claim9, further comprising:a service control point, remote from the telephoneswitches, said service control point containing a database of callprocessing records; and a first signaling network separate from thecommunication links and trunk circuits for carrying signaling messagesbetween the service control point and the telephone switches.
 12. Anetwork as in claim 11, wherein the peripheral includes a communicationserver facilitating signaling communication between the peripheral andthe service control point.
 13. A network as in claim 12, furthercomprising a second signaling network, separate from the communicationlinks, the trunk circuits and the first signaling network coupledbetween the communication server and the service control point.
 14. Anetwork as in claim 13, wherein the peripheral stores characteristicvoice feature data relating to the plurality of subscribers, and theperipheral comprises a voice authentication module for comparingcharacteristic data extracted from speech of the caller to the storedcharacteristic voice feature data.
 15. A network as in claim 14, furthercomprising a remote peripheral storing characteristic voice feature datarelating to another plurality of subscribers, wherein the remoteperipheral is coupled to the second signaling network for communicationof stored characteristic voice feature data.
 16. A network as in claim13, wherein:the first signaling network comprises a common channelinteroffice signaling network coupled to the telephone switches; and thesecond signaling network comprises a packet switched data network.
 17. Anetwork as in claim 16, wherein:the common channel interoffice signalingnetwork utilizes signaling system 7 (SS7) protocol; and the packetswitched data network utilizes transmission control protocol/Internetprotocol (TCP/IP).
 18. A network as in claim 8, wherein the peripheralcomprises a voice authentication module for analyzing speech receivedfrom the caller to identify the caller as an authentic subscriber.
 19. Atelecommunication network comprising:a plurality of central officeswitching systems interconnected by trunk circuits, for processing callsoriginated over a plurality of communication links, each of said centraloffice switching systems including mass storage containing subscriberprofiles for a plurality of subscribers; and a peripheral coupled to atleast one of the central office switching systems during processing of acall, said peripheral including a voice authentication module foranalyzing speech of a caller from one communication link to identify thecaller as one of the subscribers and provide an instruction to one ormore of the central office switching systems based on the identity ofthe one subscriber, wherein in response to receipt of the instruction, acentral office switching system processes the call using one of thesubscriber profiles corresponding to the identity of the one subscriber.20. A telephone central office switching system comprising:interfaceunits for coupling to a plurality of communication links; a switchfabric for providing selective communication connections between theinterface units; and an administrative module for controllingconnections provided by the switch fabric, wherein the administrativemodule comprises:mass storage containing subscriber profiles, aprocessor for providing control instructions to the switch fabric, and asignaling interface for coupling the processor to a signaling link, forcommunication with an external network node, wherein:in response to avirtual office equipment number received via the signaling interface,the processor retrieves a subscriber profile corresponding to thevirtual office equipment number from the mass storage and uses theretrieved profile to process a selective connection through the switchbetween two of the interface units.
 21. A method, comprising:detecting aservice request during processing of a call in a multiple linkcommunication network; receiving and processing speech signals from aperson involved in the call via the communication network to identifythe person as one of a plurality of subscribers; instructing a switchingoffice of the communication network to select one subscriber serviceprofile corresponding to the identified subscriber, from a plurality ofsubscriber service profiles, for processing of communication serviceover a predetermined link; and providing the requested communicationservice for the call, over the predetermined link, based at least inpart on the selected subscriber service profile.
 22. A method as inclaim 21, wherein the step of instructing a switching office comprisesproviding a virtual office equipment number to the switching office foruse in retrieving the one subscriber service profile.
 23. A method as inclaim 21, wherein:the step of detecting a service request comprisesdetecting a condition representing commencement of an outgoing call overthe predetermined link; the step of receiving and processing speechsignals comprises receiving signals from the person over thepredetermined link and comparing information characteristic of thereceived speech signals to stored speech data corresponding to aplurality of subscribers associated with the predetermined link.
 24. Amethod as in claim 21, further comprising the step of:during theprovision of the communication service over the predetermined link,receiving and processing speech signals from a person using thepredetermined link to determine whether or not the person currentlyusing the predetermined link is the identified subscriber.
 25. A methodas in claim 24, further comprising interrupting the provision of thecommunication service over the predetermined link if the personcurrently using the predetermined link is not the identified subscriber.26. A method as in claim 21, wherein the communication network comprisesa telephone network having a plurality of central offices each of whichserves a plurality of communication links.
 27. A method as in claim 26,wherein the plurality of communication links comprise telephone lines.28. A call processing method, comprising:detecting a call to a telephonenumber associated with a communication link servicing a plurality ofsubscribers; interacting with a caller to identify one of thesubscribers intended as the recipient of the call; obtaining a virtualoffice equipment number assigned to the subscriber; retrieving asubscriber service profile corresponding to the identified subscriberbased on the virtual office equipment number; and processing the call inaccord with the retrieved profile data.
 29. A method as in claim 28,wherein the step of processing the call comprises applying a distinctiveringing signal associated with the identified subscriber to thecommunication link.
 30. A method as in claim 28, wherein the step ofprocessing the call comprises routing the call to a voice mail serviceassociated with the identified subscriber.
 31. A method as in claim 28,wherein the communication link is a telephone line.
 32. A method,comprising:identifying one party to a requested communication service asone of a plurality of subscribers; using a virtual office equipmentnumber, assigned to the identified one subscriber, to retrievecorresponding profile data from stored profile data for the plurality ofsubscribers; and providing the communication service over a link of acommunication network based at least in part on the retrieved profiledata.
 33. A method as in claim 32, wherein the communication service isa call from the one identified subscriber through the communicationnetwork.
 34. A method as in claim 33, wherein the step of identifyingone party comprises analyzing speech information from the one party. 35.A method as in claim 32, wherein the communication service is a callthrough the communication network intended for the one identifiedsubscriber.
 36. A method as in claim 35, wherein the step of identifyingone party comprises recognizing an identification of the one subscriberas a called party from a caller's speech.
 37. A method as in claim 32,wherein:the communication network comprises a telephone network having atelephone switching system; and the step of using the virtual officeequipment number comprises supplying the virtual office equipment numberto the telephone switching system and retrieving the correspondingprofile data from storage in the telephone switching system.